48 
pose. ‘There are also mines of quick- 
silver ; one was discovered:in the neigh- 
bourhood of Columbo. Ceylon,contains 
some hot-wells, the waters of which 
possess but few mineral] qualities. 
Mr. Percival concludes his account 
with some general observations on the 
state and value of this new acquisition to 
the British crown. Notwithstanding the 
excellent temperature and fertile soil of 
Ceylon, the Dutch were so negligent of 
the cultivation of the island, that it has 
never yet produced a sufficient quantity 
of rice and wheat for its own consump- 
tion. ‘Twenty years ago the revenue of 
the island defrayed its own expenditure ; 
but from the mismanagement of late. 
years, the establishment has been a 
charge to the mother-country, which, 
indeed, easily made up the deficiency by 
the exportation of spices, by the profits 
of the pearl-fishery, and’by the imposts 
laid on the several articles imported into 
Ceylon from other parts of India. There 
is every appearance, however, of a more 
prosperous policy under the English go- 
vernment. A system of kindness and 
conciliation to the Candians, as well as to 
the Cinglese, is adopted by the present 
active, intelligent, and humane gover- 
nor, Mr. North ; who has already pur- 
sued such measures as materially to have 
encreased the revenue, and who cer- 
tainly will receive with thankfulness 
those numerous and important hints for 
the improvement of the island, which are 
interspersed in the volume before us. 
Governor North has taken a tour round 
. the island in person, accompanied by se- 
yeral gentlemen well calculated to exa- 
mine its various natural productions with 
skill and accuracy. Roads will doubt- 
less be cut to obviate the present diffi- 
culties of communication: forests will 
be cleared, and jungles stubbed, and 
marshes drained in those parts where 
the partial insalubrity of the climate 
arises from fogs and an obstructed cir- 
culation of air, Thebest sorts of cinna- 
mon will, of course, be selected for cul- 
VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. 
ture, and the inferior species abandoned + 
the importance of attending to the tea- 
plant and the sugar-tree and sugar-cane, 
cannot possibly escape the sagacity of 
the governor, who will see the policy of 
encouraging a spirit of industry amon 
the natives, who willimpress them on 4 
a sense of the power with which he rules, 
by the vigour and promptitude of his 
measures, and of the humanity of his 
administration, by tempering the se- 
verity of justice with the tenderness of 
mercy 
Mr. Percival closes his volume with a 
journal of the embassy to the court of 
Candy under general Macdowal, in the 
year 1800. ‘The object of this embassy 
is not unfolded; we are only made ac- 
quainted with one demand, which was 
urged on behalf of the British govern- 
ment, and peremptorily rejected: the 
demand was, that the king of Candy 
would allow a road to be made, and a 
communication to be opened from Trin- 
comalée to Columbo through his terri- 
tories, as it would avoid the circuitous 
route which letter-bags, &c. are now ob- 
liged to travel. His majesty would on 
no account suffer any connexion or in- 
tercourse betweén his subjects and Eu- 
ropeans—the Portugueze and Dutch are 
ever present in his mind. In this jour- 
nal some further particulars concerning 
the interior of the Candian dominions 
are related, for which we must refer to 
the volume. 
After the very ample review which 
we have taken of this work, it is unne- 
cessary to make any general remarks on 
its merits. Mr. Percival “writes in a 
plain, unstudied manner; he has col-« 
lected such a body of information as is 
rarely to be met with in the same com- 
pass. That information, intrinsically 
interesting, and of peculiar value to 
Englishmen, since the country to which 
it refers has recently become a part of 
the British dominions, will plead our 
apology for the unusual length to which 
this article has been extended. 
Art. VIII. 4 Voyage in the Indian Ocean, and to Bengal, undertaken in the Years 
1789 and1790. Translated from the French of L, De Granere. 8vo, 2 vols. 
pp. 560. 
M. GRANDPRE begins his book 
with remarkable honesty. 
«¢ T was at the Isle of France in the year 
1790, with a vessel too large and too sharp 
for the country. Not being able to dispose 
* of her, I resolved on a trip to Bengal, where 
* 
I hoped to find a good price and a read 
market, though her construction was ill 
alapted to the. navigation of the Ganges. 
But appearances being in her favour, this 
defect I trusted would be overlooked, and 
I’ was not mistaken.” 
y 
4 
4 
